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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
760 Posts |
 Posted - 24/07/2007 : 16:11:48
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Section suggested by 'hillbilly' and his list to start with.
Old bicycle frames are a source of lots of useful bits like bearings, frames etc.
B&Q / Homebase sell sheet metal, angle iron, brackets etc.
Car Boots often have useful material especially tools, the odd motor/generator too.
Hire shops will sometimes sell off old scaffolding tubes, useful for towers.
Trade shops sell heavy-duty brackets/straps etc for building work.
Ship/Boat chandlers have lots of useful items, 12-volt fittings and bits
Similarly caravanning/camping shops for rope, 12-volt fittings etc. Leisure batteries
Rare earth magnets (www.rare-earth-magnets.com) all shapes and sizes
Scrap yards for Hubs, Alternators, and Batteries etc.
The old favourite of course e-bay
Maplins for some electronic bits.
CPC/Farnell for a lot of other electronic components (www.cpc.farnell.com)
Radio Spares (www.rswww.com)
A lot of Bathroom/Kitchen lighting is low voltage (12Volts) fed by a transformer off the mains, a 12-volt Wind supplied battery could replace the mains supply?
12-volt immersion heaters (www.hydrogenappliances.com/hotwater.html.)
Your local domestic repair shop for scrap appliances.
I use a lot of jubilee clips in bulk from Halfords.
Farmers/Agricultural stores for heavy metal components Brackets/hinges etc also heavy duty batteries.
Regards
Hillbilly
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
760 Posts |
 Posted - 24/07/2007 : 16:20:39
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Maplin electronics are good, and there are a lot of branches throughout the U.K - I can loose hours in my local branch just browsing 
However it is very expensive, generally twice what you should pay at maybe Farnell or Rapid electronics http://www.rapidonline.com/
By the way Hillbilly, most of your links above aren't working.
Cheers
Ben. |
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fungus
Junior Member
249 Posts |
Posted - 24/07/2007 : 17:33:44
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A few more I can think of...
electric motor repair shops; you can often get free small motors to convert as they arent cost effective for them, winding wire you might be able to buy, if you're lucky a DC motor...
Dumpsterdiving; never really guaramteed anything but when theres lots of stuff available from trash, I've scrapped many things which all have useful electronic parts...
B&Q is good for a lot of stuff;good thing that I've bought from there are ground anchors for guy wires, come in a set of 4 for trampolines, a lot of stuff in B&Q etc...
A few sources for magnets;
www.forcefieldmagnets.com
www.supermagnetman.net
www.powermagnetstore.com
eBay
old hard drives, microwaves
Appliance repair shops if you're lucky will give you broken appliances.
Maplin is good for electronic parts, a bit overpriced on some stuff.
Farmer/agricultural shops might also have good DC circuit breakers; worth looking into...
eBay has a load of good stuff, look in the motors section inside 'business office and industrial-electric supplies(or similar)', spend a while browsing that, some good motors.
A builder friend I know has given a lot of stuff(scaffolding poles, lead sheet, loads of other stuff)
Good to have friends in the right places.
Thats just about all of the sources I use, theres probably more...
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hillbilly
Starting Member
United Kingdom
22 Posts |
Posted - 26/07/2007 : 14:51:25
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Sorry about the links, must have bits in my cache ??
Try these I have checked them this time.
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/home/homepage.jsp
http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/
Some more tips :-
Use wall lining paper for drawing out your project, its cheap and cheerfull and often you can draw out full scale.
Cut car/bicycle inner tubes for strong elastic bands, useful for keeping some of your "junk" tidy ?
Regards
Hillbilly
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BushWhacker
Junior Member
Canada
255 Posts |
Posted - 28/07/2007 : 07:47:18
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As mentioned on another string, make a few phone calls to gym's and find out who repairs their treadmills for a source of treadmill motors/gen units. You would be surprised what you find in a "broken" treadmill for additional "bits and pieces" when you strip them down.
Sheesh! I'd try for head vulture position on this board but I think Fungus has me beat 7 ways to Sunday! Good luck hunting Fungus!!!
BTW my deal fell through on some lake front property but I have a new offer on another property in the morning if the competitions offer does not work out. I hate lying real estate agents! GRRRRRR!
BW
Think about how stupid the average person is; now realize half of them are dumber than that.
- George Carlin |
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Phil Martin
Starting Member
23 Posts |
Posted - 28/07/2007 : 19:59:34
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Builders Skips,Skips Skips- the other night at work,I did a skip dive, pulled out a Industrial lawn mower don't know if it worked but had a good Briggs and statton engine on!! ,would have brought it home BUT!! I am trying to curb this disease of I can use that down, I did get 2 brand new 4"" plastic (WASTE) 45 degree bends & a 4"" plastic tee, just price them up £10.00 to £15.00 just for the tee ? also pulled out a very nice camera tripod ?
Saying all this, I can go weeks without finding anything of any use.
At my local tip ,they treat you like a crook every time I take anything up there ,because I am in a van I must be trade !! and have to fill a form out with my address etc... I would not mind WE PAY THERE WAGES,and I would like to know what happens to all the money from the tonnes and tonnes of recycled glass,and tin cans we put out every week.
Sorry if I have gone off the subject.
Have a nice day
Phil  |
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
760 Posts |
Posted - 28/07/2007 : 20:17:40
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Down here in Shropshire, we can't remove anything from a council run skip, Health and safety I suppose. It's madness.
Good lawnmowers, bikes, motors just go to scrap I guess, or who knows landfill, I would turn them into something worthhwile.
A year or so ago I read in our local paper that a young lad (aged 9)was fined and cautioned for removing an old BMX bicycle tyre....
This really annoys me in this re-use, recycle world we find ourselves in now.
Maybe gotwind needs to do something about it???
Sorry. off topic but needed saying  |
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Phil Martin
Starting Member
23 Posts |
Posted - 28/07/2007 : 20:52:11
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Ben
That is total madness, Terrorists, and god knows what are walking our streets, and a young kid gets fined for a tyre !! our fantastic boys in blue again ?or maybe just a totally crap Government.
My local tip used to sell bits and bobs and give the money to local charities ,but since they have become Euro- ,PC,Terrorists like you mentioned you cannot take anything anymore,what a waste.
Phil |
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Victor
Junior Member
United Kingdom
357 Posts |
Posted - 29/07/2007 : 13:46:59
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Skips!
Getting to know the people who work at the skips is a good idea. I`m going to use enammelled copper wire to build my own generator once I get the earth magnets.
Skips are protected. Once an article hits a skip it becomes council property.
People raid skips to steal other peoples Identity.
As a note!! SHRED ALL YOUR BILLS AND FORM BEFORE YOU BIN THEM.
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Rich
Starting Member
Spain
23 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2007 : 08:43:23
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Just a word of warning ahout skip diving and tip scrounging. At the local (unmanned) recycling dump there are a group of gentlemen who claim first dibs on anything dumped there.
This can lead to awkwardness. I tend to do my scavaging at times when they are not there.
I've found similar in the UK with "totters" who will often have a license from the local authority to sort and claim stuff from rubbish dumps. They will often take a dim view of people s ticking their nose it.
The motto of this tale? Check out the 'lye of the land' before you go scrounging  |
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Phil Martin
Starting Member
23 Posts |
Posted - 24/08/2007 : 22:43:55
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Hi guys Just to show you all that you are not the only ones with a one track mind ! ,Last night (4.30AM) at work I was bleeped to fix a broken Nurse call system on one of the wards.
Whilst fixing it I noticed for the fist time, Bridge rectifiers as part of the old system , there are bits and bobs every were, but not in the scrap this week!!!!!
BOO HOO |
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Victor
Junior Member
United Kingdom
357 Posts |
Posted - 28/08/2007 : 18:33:16
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Phil
This is one of the best things.The amount of stuff that is in the trash is the best stuff to use.It`s free.I got two pentium processors out of a skip a few years back when the University chucked out computers. One of the hardrives was in tha machine too and not formatted.
I also got a lot of wood off pallets in a computer factory I was working and did all the edging in my garden with it. It was thick wood and really looks the part.
I tent to try and save things I find when other folks just think your mad....
This all started in the year 200 when a friend at work seen a massive machine go into a factory and all the wood was lying outside in the rain for the bin.He asked to get it and took it all away after the manager allowed it...
He invited everyone up to his house 5 months later to see his new shed and gazebo.....
CRAFTMANSHIP LOL LOL |
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Peter Williams
New Member
United Kingdom
51 Posts |
Posted - 30/08/2007 : 20:25:16
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| If in the UK try a search for freecycle, its a website on which people give stuff away rather than taking it to the local tip. I got some printers from it to look for stepper motors. Allsorts on it. |
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
760 Posts |
Posted - 30/08/2007 : 20:33:01
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Excellent idea Peter, a few friends have also suggested this site.
http://www.freecycle.org/
Ben.
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
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fungus
Junior Member
249 Posts |
Posted - 30/08/2007 : 20:44:41
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| Freecycle is great, got a few things off that before. |
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Del
Junior Member
United Kingdom
361 Posts |
Posted - 31/08/2007 : 09:20:49
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Yeah I can agree freecycle is very handy for all kinds of stuff. be quick and be polite though as there are usually loads of people all wanting the same thing. You can also post 'wanted' notices on there too.
Cheers
Del. |
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Topic |
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Resources Section - Where to buy stuff from.
